Julius mohs



(No Model.)

J. MOI-IS. LEAD FOR ELECTRICAL SOUNDING.

No. 596,172. Patented Dec. 28,1897.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICEQ JULIUS MOHS, OF BRANDENBURG, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO THE BERLINER KUNSTDRUCK UND VERLAGS-ANSTALT, VORMALS A. in C. KAUFMANN, OF BERLIN, GERMANY.

LEAD FOR ELECTRICAL SOUNDING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 596,172, dated December 28, 189?- Application filed September 8, 1896. Serial No. 604,804. (No model.) Patented in Germany February 23, 1895, No. 86,628, and in France December 1'7,1895,No.252,545.

T aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JULIUS MOHS, a subject of the Duke of Anhalt, residing at Brandenburg-on-the-Havel, Kingdom of Prussia,

5 German Empire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Leads for Electrical Soundings, (patented in Germany February 23, 1895, No. 86,628, and in France December 17, 1895, No. 252,545,) of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in sounding leads or plumbs such as are employed for determining depths of water by sounding, locating sunken vessels, reefs, or

I 5 shoals, and for other similar maritime purposes.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a lead which either by a lateral impact or by a vertical impact will actuate suitable signaling, registering, or winding mechanism on the vessel, whereby the fact that the lead has come into contact with an object or with the bottom is announced, the depth of the lead below the surface is indiz 5 cated, and the winding mechanism is started to raise the lead. This feature of causing the operation of the aforesaid mechanism on the vessel by either a lateral or a downward impact of the lead is of great importance in some uses to which the lead may be put. For

instance, where the lead is suspended at a certain depth from a vessel in motion the lead will at once signal its contact with any sunken object in its pathsuch, for example, as a 3 5 reef or a sunken vesseland if the lead is being carried through deep water at a considerable distance above the marine fioor the contact of the lead with any water-logged derelict floating below the surface and in the 0 path of thelead will be announced.

My invention consists in the features, details of construction, and combinations of parts, which will first be described in connection with the accompanying drawings and 5 then pointed out in the claim.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical sec tional view of one form of lead. embodying my invention. Figs. 2, 3, andi are side elevations, partlyin section, of three other forms of leads embodying my invention.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, which shows a lead in the form of a plummet, it will be observed that said lead is made in two principal parts A A capable of movement toward each other, each of said parts being provided with a contact device a a which devices are arranged to come into contact with each other when the lower end of the lead is arrested by striking the marine floor in sounding, the two parts A and A being held apart by the action of gravity, which tends to pull the lower part from the upper one, the latter being suspended from the sounding-line, while the lower one is held from dropping away altogether from the upper part by suitable connecting mechanism which permits a limited amount of movement of the two parts toward and from each other. The said lead is also provided with a laterally-an ranged circuit-closing device, which when it strikes against any object or obstruction in its path closes a circuit and announces that fact by operating suitable signal mechanism on the vessel. To keep the lead in such a position that the laterally-arranged circuit- 7 5 closing device will always project forward, the lead is provided at the side opposite said laterally-arranged circuit-closin g device with a fixed rudder or fin, which is also composed of two parts movable toward and from each other, a guidepin being fixed in one part of said rudder and arranged to move in a socket in the other part of the rudder, whereby the two principal parts A and A of the lead are prevented from rotating with relation to 8 5 each other about their common axis. The specific construction illustrated in the said Fig. 1 and which I consider the preferable manner of carrying out this modification embodying my invention is as follows:

in the drawings. \Vithin the hollow cylinder to is located the cylindrical lower end of the upper portion A of the lead, said lower end being formed both as a piston movable in said hollow cylinder a and as a stuffingbox, through which passes a guide-rod c The said guide-rod also passes through the hub a and the central opening and terminates within the lower cavity of the part A where it is provided with a nut a threaded onto the guide-rod a and bearing against a collar a. Above the hub a and within the hollow cylinder a a collar a is fixed to the guiderod a whereby by tightening the nut a the hollow cylinder is held securely in position, the guide -rod itself is fixed rigidly to the lower part A of the lead, and the collar (Wis clamped with sufficient force to seat itself tightly over the central opening and thereby prevent the entrance of water through said central openinginto the lowerend of the hollow cylinder.

The lower cylindrical end of the upper portion of the lead comprises two glands a e through which the guide-rod o passes, a packing a between the glands, and a sleeve a, having inward-extending flanges a, engaging the lower gland a said sleeve being provided with internal screw-threads engaging corr spending threads 011 a downward-extending cylindrical portion c formed integral with the upper portion of the lead and arranged to contain the glands and packing. By screwing the said sleeve a into the portion a the glands are forced toward each other and the packing u compressed around the rod a" to a sufficient extent in order to preclude all possibility of water reaching the contact-points in case by any means it should succeed in entering the lower end of the hollow cylinder. The sleeve a is intended to fit so snugly in the hollow cylinder o as to prevent the entrance of water between the two from above, and yet at the same time to permit the vertical movement of the lower end of the upper portion A within said hollow cylinder a.

The lower end of the lower portion A has a bottom plate ll, whose lower surface is concave and adapted to receive a coating of tallow for catching loose portions of the marine floor as samples, which when the lead is drawn up indicate the formation of bottom struck by the lead. This bottom plate H is made removable for the purpose of allowing access to the nut a when assembling or taking apart the device.

Just above the bottom plate H is placed a disk to", preferably of rubber or wood, pressed tightly into place against an inner annular flange (L18, formed integral with the part (0, whereby the chances of water entering the lower end of the hollow cylinderare reduced to a minimum.

The upper end of the guide-rod a terminates in a chamber formed in the upper por tion of the lead and is provided with a collar a, fixed on the rod and serving as a stop to limit the separation of the upper and lower parts of the lead. Above this collar is secured a clamping-ring a provided with a binding-socket a into which the end of one of the conductors (0 is inserted and held by a screw, as will be clear from the drawings. Above the clampin g-rin g a and in electrical communication therewith through the guidcrod a is placed a contactpoint a fixed as a cap onto the upper end of the guide-rod a Into the upper end of the chamber in said upper portion A is threaded a bushing (L22, which contains an insulating-plu t", through which pass two conductors a a, the latter continuing through the chamber to the binding-socket a as previously described, while the other terminates at an upper contactpoint a, extending just below the said plug i. The two conductors a' and a pass through and form part of a cable i, which is secured to the bushing a and leads to the vessel from which the lead is suspended.

At the rear of the chambered upper portion of the lead is placed the upper portion .9 of the fin or rudder, which carries a pin or stud f, arranged to slide within a bushing f, located in a socket in the upper edge of the lower portion of said fin or rudder, said pin or stud f serving to hold the two portions of the fin in their proper relative positions.

On that side of the lead opposite the fin, and which is therefore the forward side, is placed a laterally-arranged circuit-closing device connected to the upper portion of the lead. This circuit closing device is constructed as follows: Through an opening into the chamber of the upper portion of the lead projects a hollow plug I), having a flange at its outer end and an opening through its bottom. Through this opening passes a stem 71, provided with a collar n, fixed on the stem and movable snugly within the hollow plug Z). Between this collar and the bottom of the plug is placed a spring 071, surrounding the stem and serving to hold said stem outward or forward in a yielding manner. The stem is provided inside the chamber with a cap or disk of, on which is fixed a contact s )ring a, whose ends are arranged to be forced into contact with the two terminals or contactpoints a a thereby forming an electric bridge and closing the electric circuit through the conductors a and a and causing the operation of the alarm mechanism on the vessel.

To the forward side of the flanged edge of the hollow plugb is secured a stulling-box device I), through which the stem at passes, said stem carrying at its outer end a head R, in which is journaled a roller R, the head having an inward-exteinling sleeve movable between the stufling--bo.\ device and an annular rib Z7, made integral with the stuiling-box device. This sleeve serves to protect the stuffing-bon from injury.

At the front side of the lower portion of the IIC lead is placed a roller R journaled in lugs R secured to the said lower portion.

In Fig. 2 I have shown a lead constructed in the form approximately of a fish, having a body A, fins B and C, and'a tail D. In this arrangement the lower contact-point a is carried on the end of a plunger .9, which extends downward through the body, as shown, its lower end projecting beyond the bottom of said body. A stuffing-box s is provided around said plunger 3, which is held normally outward or downward by a spring 8 as will be fully understood from the drawings. The forward end of the body is provided with a similar plunger a, normally held outward by a spring '17. and packed by stuffing-boX W, said plunger carrying at its inner end a contact-spring (4 identical in arrangement and operation with that shown in Fig. 1 and previously described. To the outer end of the plunger 17. and in a vertical slot or recess in the same is pivoted the front end of a curved runner or shoe S, which is capable of swinging in a vertical plane about its pivotal point and is so bent as to extend backward beneath the body of the lead and to contact with the lower outer end of the plunger 8 when striking the marine floor, whereby the lower plunger 8 is forced inward and closes the electric circuit in an obvious manner. WVhen the front end of the shoe S or the point of the plunger 'n strikes against an object or resistance of any kind, said plunger n is forced inward and can thereby also close the electric circuit on account of its contactspring a being brought against both contactpoints a and a In Figs. 3 and 4 I have shown constructions in which disk-formed leads are employed, these disks 0 having tails or fins G and shoes S, which are pivoted above the disks and extend downward past the forward ends of the leads and then rearward beneath the bottoms of said leads, the shoes being connected to the rear end of the fins by slot-and-pin con nections or other suitable connections, permitting a limited amount of angular movement of the shoes about their pivots. In the device shown in Fig. 3 the shoe S is connected to a plunger 11, which carries a contact-spring a arranged to be forced against the contact-point a, said plunger 07. being in circuit with one of the conductors a through the metal of the disk to which the said 0011- ductor is attached. The vertical lower plunger is omitted in this construction as also in that form shown in Fig. 4, being ren= dered unnecessary by the fact that the shoe S is pivoted above the plunger a in each construction and will when forced toward the disk, either by an obstruction met at the front end or by coming to rest on the marine floor, drive the plunger n inward and thereby close the electric circuit. In Fig. at the stationary terminal a is made in the form of a spiral spring, while the movable terminal a is a plate arranged to contact with said opposite spring-terminal a.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- In a sounding-lead, the combination, with a body, of a pair of contact devices, a shoe pivotally connected to the front end of the body and extending beneath the said body, and means operated by the movement of the shoe for closing a circuit through the contact devices, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JULIUS MOIIS.

lVitnesses:

W. HAUPT, HENRY HAsPnR. 

